Glorfindel, a pencil drawing

Glorfindel and Asphalot

35x50 cm

My Glorfindel (I do admit that he might do just as well as Lady Oscar). Bit of a porn-for-little-girls kind of picture, My Little Pony and all. Oh well, so sue me. Must we really be grown-up all the time?

Glorfindel is a minor character in the Lord of the Rings (in the movie he doesn't appear at all, because he was replaced by Liv Tyler, that giggling strumpet), but he has by far the most astounding back-story of any character in the whole book. Please note that he was out and about already in the Silmarillion, where he single-handedly *killed a Balrog* , getting himself killed in the process, admittedly, reincarnated, and came back to Middle Earth again on a mission from the Valar.

Remember when Gandalf challenged the Balrog on the Bridge of Khazad-Dum, fell in the abyss, and came back again? Well, Glorfindel was like, been there, done that, got the t-shirt, yawn.
He was one of the very few who could ride openly against the Nine. Frodo saw him as a "white figure that shone and did not grow dim" and Gandalf said, "yes, you saw him for a moment as he is upon the other side: one of the mighty of the Firstborn.". Plus, he was pretty hot. "Glorfindel was tall and straight; his hair was of shining gold, is face fair and young and fearless and full of joy; his eyes were bright and keen, and his voice like music; on his brow sat wisdom and in his hand was strength".
As far as I know he's the only re-embodied elf in the whole of the Lord of the Rings.

It was Glorfindel who prophesied that the Witch King of Angmar, chief of the Nazgul, would not be killed by the hand of mortal man.

His white horse, Asphalot (but Glorfindel already had a white horse ages before... was it the same horse?) was very fast, and very clever. It should never be forgotten, that it was the horse alone who saved Frodo at the Fords of Bruinen. There was no elf-chick on the saddle.

Back in Gondolin, Glorfindel was the head of the House of the Golden lower, hence the tapestry. When I started this, pretty much the only thing I knew was that I wanted Glorfindel's pale hair (Glorfindel=golden-haired) to mingle with the horse's white mane. Everything else was pretty random.




Model is of course the wondrously beautiful and ever-kind Danila Kovalev (an elf sloppily disguised as a human, if I ever saw one).

 

Faber Castell Graphite-Pure B to 9B

Awards, first drafts, and wild plans.

Book news were promised and are now delivered.
First of all, Woman as a Foreign language managed Runner Up in the 2017 Readers' Choice award for Best Contemporary story of the year, which for a book published at the end of September is not bad at all!! I am so chuffed and grateful to my readers.
This book is so deeply rooted inside me that I feel this very much.

In other news, I have finished the first draft of Spice&Vanilla. Not that I usually bother with second drafts as such, but lets say the story is all there now, and all that is left is polishing. Lots of polishing, quite likely, but the hard bit is done!
Spice is not really a sequel of WaaFL but Julia/n and Nina put in a little appearance and we learn a little something about their story after WaaFL's end ... and let me say that Julia/n really has a thing for putting broken young people back together.

I am also slowly forming in my head a possible short story (ah ah, Spice started as a short, and is currently 70k, so good luck with that, but one can try, right?). This started out as a plain and simple MF story, but the queer bend in my brain is not ready to unkink yet, and I am considering and evaluating... it begs to have a crossdressing hero/ine again... and tie in, very subtly with the other two books above... Anyway it's still all cloudy, and I would love input from a beautiful person I know on certain points concerning the story, so for now I will say no more.

Gildor, a pencil drawing

 

It’s been raining non-stop ALL day, a rather depressing business, but at least by working my eyes blind in the watery gloom, I managed to finish my new Tolkien illustration, starring the stunningly beautiful Paul Boche as Gildor Inglorion.

Gildor plays only a small part in the book and none at all in the movie (bah!), but he is the first elf that you encounter in the ‘real’ story, and not even meeting La Grande Dame Galadriel in the heart of the Golden Wood packs anywhere near as much magic as Gildor appearing out of the blue dusk in the homely woods of the Shire (chasing off a snuffling Black Rider in the process, I might add, so there!).

 

When Gildor and his companions take the hobbits on their nightly walk into the forest and a late banquet, “Sam walked along at Frodo’s side, as if in a dream, with an expression on his face half of fear and half of astonished joy… Pippin afterwards recalled little of either food or drink, for his mind was filled with the light upon the elf-faces, and the sound of voices so various and so beautiful that he felt in a waking dream…”

I always loved this, and hope I have captured some of the magic… The background is very freely copied from an ivy-overgrown tree in the forest just outside my garden. The moths are Smerinthus ocellatus, the eyed hawk-moth, a good totem I think for a far-wandering nocturnal elf.

 

 

“Elen sila lumen omentielvo” is the High Elven line that Frodo speaks to Gildor, “A star shines on the hour of our meeting.” 

With many thanks to Paul Boche for allowing me to use his picture(s) (three different photos went into this... he has a a challenging face!). 

 

Faber Castell Graphite Pure, from B to 9B

(it was COLD at my table these last couple of days)

In other news, I'll be posting book related stuff tomorrow :)

Cernunnos - a pencil drawing

 "Cernunnos"

35x50cm

Ⓒ Katherine Wyvern 2018

Lately we have been binge-watching Hannibal, of which we liked the first season (with some reserve at first), but not so much the rest (despite the uber-sexy Mads Mikkelsen, eh!), and the antlers imagery has been rather present in my mind…

So I drew this, not so much for Hannibal, but as Cernunnos.

It hints to Herne in the old Robin Hood series, and even Harry Potter’s patronus, but it’s none of these things really, or not only. It’s also not really the Celtic or even Wiccan Cernunnos for me, but an altogether earthier and more elemental being ... a personification of the life of the forest.

Like all natural spirits, I believe that despite the antlers, it should not be quite male or female, but both, or above it…

I added all the things that are brightest in my garden/forest now (those were copied from life), hellebores and arum leaves, and ivy, and pale lichen, which is at its brightest celadon now… Its lovely fractal shapes are the essence of all life forms, trees and lungs and veins and roots…

It’s the things I could draw from life at this time of year, but also, maybe, this is the time of year when we (or I, at least) most need to remember that the forest still lives, and will be green again.

There was to be a stag skull on Cernunnos’ head, but alas the paper was not large enough (that cramped my style a little),  so I had to be content with an eagle skull. A skull for mortality, but an eagle is a finely odinic animal, and Odin himself a good omen that life will come back from darkness, stronger, stranger and wiser.

The runes are Norse runes too. Ogham lettering is so ugly.

And it's an homage, once more, most of all,  to Danila Kovalev’s 

otherworldly beauty, and unique intensity.

Thank you!

 Faber-Castell Graphite Pure pencils, from B to 9B!

New release - The Beauty of Forever - Elyzabeth M. VaLey

A Christmas Realm Tale, 1

Once dead, always dead. 

Christopher Beaufort works in what could easily be the most cheerful place on earth, Santa’s Christmas Realm, but as a vampire, he is nothing more than a shadow among the living. 

Worn out by the demands of his job as Chief Toy Officer, Santa assigns a human woman to help him, Samantha Kraus. Tantalized by the fiery red-head, Christopher makes it his business to seduce her, but as he does, something within him begins to stir. 

Life is a gift in which every moment counts. 

When Samantha Kraus accepted the job of assistant manager at Santa’s, she expected elves, fairies and maybe some shifters, but definitely not vampires. Least of all did she imagine her boss would be one of them or that she’d be attracted to him. 
Though she tries to remain professional, Samantha finds herself falling for Christopher. But, can a vampire’s heart ever beat again?

Available at:
Evernight Publishing
Amazon.com
Amazon.uk
Bookstrand

I am always happy to host my dear friend Elyzabeth M. Valey at the Lair, especially when she comes up with something as outrageoulsy fantastic as this idea. Although Christmas ig over for most of us, do keep the holiday magic going with this story!

 "Dear Katherine, thank you for having me on your blog today!

I’m excited to share my latest release with you, The Beauty of Forever (A Christmas Realm Tale I). This is the first story in a new paranormal - holiday themed series, which revolves around Santa’s kingdom in the North Pole and the different people who work for him.

Christmas is my favorite holiday and I’ve always enjoyed both reading and writing holiday-themed stories. One day, I was chatting with my sister about some story ideas I had and she mentioned vampires. My muse immediately made the connection.

Vampires + Christmas.

 I was a bit baffled. How was I going to make that work? After all, vampires are supposed to be dark, gloomy and Christmas is the opposite. I set the story aside for a good year or so, until, I began toying with the idea again and that’s when Christopher formally introduced himself. I could picture him, a 500 year old vampire standing at a floor to ceiling window, looking down at what was supposed to be the happiest place on Earth and feeling miserable.

Why?

Little by little, Christopher opened up to me along with Santa’s empire. I had turned the key to the door of a world in which vampires, elves, fairies, fauns, shifters and more co-inhabited and I greedily immersed myself in it.  

Every time I think about Christopher, Samantha and everyone in The Beauty of Forever, my heart soars. I can only hope you feel the same. Enjoy!"

Excerpt:

“That went well with Jacobs, right?” she blurted, searching for a distraction.

Christopher looked at her. The intensity in his gaze threw her back and her knees weakened.

“Yes,” he replied. “You were fantastic. I can see now why Santa hired you.” His mouth thinned. “Jacobs was practically salivating after you.”

Samantha blinked, surprised by the ferocity in his tone. “I don’t know him as well as you do, but from what he spoke, he seemed devoted to his wife.”

“It’s not what I saw.”

She smiled, trying to ignore the low timber of his voice and the way it curled in her belly, heating her from the inside out.

“Is that why you were glaring at him while we were working?” she joked.

“I wasn’t glaring. I was simply—” Christopher raked his gaze over her. “Watching.”

Samantha shivered. She lifted her chin. “And did you observe anything of interest?”

Christopher slid his arms to the height of her elbows. He didn’t touch her, but the hairs on her body rose. Nerve ends tingled. Christopher leaned in. “Absolutely.”

“Mind sharing?”

What was she asking? She knew full well they weren’t talking about work anymore, but she couldn’t stop herself. Her body had taken over her mind and all it wanted was for Christopher to come closer. She craved to see him bring out his humanity in the most carnal way possible.

“I’m not sure you’re ready.”

“Try me.”

Christopher grinned. His gaze held a warning which she should have heeded because the moment his lips touched hers, she knew she was lost. Burying his hand into her hair, he slanted his head and dove into her mouth. Like a flower urgently seeking sunshine, she opened up to him. His groan reverberated through her and she arched against him. His minty taste swept over her, taking her by surprise. Holding her firmly, he devoured her like a man starved of nourishment. Each stroke of his tongue drew her further away from reality, into a bubble where only they existed. Desperate to find something to hold on to, to keep her grounded, Samantha fisted his shirt.

It didn’t help. The world vanished, leaving only him behind. His essence. His strength. The heat of his passion, which she frantically desired.

The train lurched to a stop and they stumbled, breaking apart. Gasping for air, Samantha stared at Christopher. His eyes had deepened to an indigo blue and he had a wildness to him that spoke of danger and unyielding hunger. For her? She swallowed. She had to stop this now. Before it got too far. It was one thing to flirt with him so he would smile, and another one entirely different to kiss on a train full of people.

“Christopher—”

People shoved their way out of the wagon, drawing them close again. Christopher wrapped her in his arms. His scent flooded her and for an instant, she shut her eyes and pretended the sound against her ear wasn’t her own heart thrashing, but his, beating.

But it wasn’t. The knowledge chilled her to the bones. Christopher wasn’t really alive. He spoke and he moved but his heart was dead. How did he even exist?

The piercing whistle of the shutting doors signaled the train’s departure. Christopher tilted her chin.

“Are you all right?”

Samantha sucked in her cheeks.

“Christopher, we can’t do this,” she said.

“By this, I imagine you’re talking about the kiss?

She nodded.

“Why not, Samantha?”

He stroked her bottom lip with his thumb, leaving a tingling trail which echoed in other parts of her body. Damn it all if she didn’t want to nip his finger and tease him. She yearned to kiss him again, to feel his unpredictable heat against her.

“I don’t see the problem. We’re both adults and we’re attracted to each other,” he continued.

You’re not alive.

“We need to work together. Things could get complicated,” she said instead.

Christopher cupped her cheek. His eyes narrowed and he set his jaw. “Complicated?”

“We work together,” she repeated.

Wanting you scares me. It’s unnatural.

Christopher raised his eyebrows.

“I see.” He disentangled himself from her. Samantha shivered and fought the urge to wrap her arms around herself. Christopher smirked. He knew.

“I’ll respect your wishes, Samantha. For now. But, just remember, doll, I’m an animal of prey. What I want, I hunt down and get. I’ve lived long enough to know I want you, 

Samantha, and a night of hot, passionate sex won’t make things, as you put it, complicated.” The train started to slow again. Their stop was next. Christopher leaned in. “Sooner or later, doll, I will have you.” 

~~~~~~~~~

Available at:
Evernight Publishing ~ Amazon.com ~ Amazon.uk ~ Bookstrand

About Elyzabeth M. VaLey

Elyzabeth M. VaLey is a writer of sizzling, sexy romance who firmly believes in happy ever after.  From paranormal to contemporary, fantasy, or historical, she enjoys exploring her characters' darker side and writing stories about tortured heroes, strong heroines, and all that comes between them and their love.

When she's not writing, she can be found walking in the Spanish countryside with her black Lab, exploring castles, or enjoying some tapas with her friends. 

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